Monoecious, apetalous; no disk; staminate fls with 2-lobed cal and 2 stamens, the filaments connate below; pistillate fls with 3 sep; ovary with 3 locules and ovules; styles united at base, not lobed; capsule 3-seeded, the base of each valve persisting after the fertile portion has fallen; caruncle sunken in a ventral depression of the seed; glabrous shrubs or perennial herbs with simple, alternate, glandular-serrate lvs and terminal spikes of small fls. 25+, mainly New World.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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